STATE OF THE [TO BE DETERMINED]

WHERE ARE ALL THE BOYS?

Examining the Black-White Gender Gap in Postsecondary

Attainment1

Rachelle Brunn

Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York

University

Grace Kao

Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania

LRH: Rachelle Brunn and Grace Kao

RRH: Where Are All the Boys?

Abstract

We explore the gender gap in college completion among Blacks and

Whites. Using the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, we

examine how early school achievement and educational expectations

affect attainment by following a nationally representative sample of

youths from 1988 (approximately age fourteen) to 2000

(approximately age twenty-six). The odds of attaining an associate’s or

1

a bachelor’s degree among Black women are greater than the odds

among White men after controlling for family socioeconomic status.

However, the difference between Black men and White men is

additionally dependent on differences in middle school and high school

achievement and in high school sequencing.

Keywords: Race, Gender, Higher Education, Degree Attainment,

Achievement

INTRODUCTION

The race-gender gap in higher education has received extensive media attention in recent

years. On March 3, 2003, Newsweek ran a cover story, “The Black Gender Gap,”

which argued that Black women are outstripping Black men educationally. Though the

article presented statistics about the percentage of young Black men and women

attending college, 25% and 35%, respectively, it does not explain the causes of this

disparity in rates of college attendance, opting instead to focus on the consequences for

the marriage market of Black women.

Although the gender gap in college enrollment and degree attainment is evident

among all racial-ethnic groups, the gender gap is most pronounced

among racially stigmatized groups (Lopez 2003). More specifically,

Cathy Cohen and Claire Nee (2000) have argued that the gender

differential is most extreme among Black students.2 In addition to this,

the gender gap in postsecondary enrollment and degree attainment

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became evident in Black communities before it became visible in other

racial-ethnic communities. In fact, when discussing the implications of

trends in bachelor’s degrees awarded in 1975/76 and 1980/81, William

Trent (1991) warned of an impending “feminization of education”

among Blacks.

The Census Bureau began regularly tracking bachelor’s degree

recipients by race and gender in 1976/77. At that time, Black women

earned approximately 57% of all bachelor’s degrees conferred to

Blacks (Cross 1999). In contrast, during the same period, White women

earned 46% of all bachelor’s degrees conferred to Whites (authors’

calculation from the Digest of Education Statistics 2005, Snyder et al.,

2006).3 The corresponding figure for Hispanic and Asian women is approximately

45%. The enrollment rates during this period follow the same general

pattern. Black women comprised approximately 54% of Black

undergraduates enrolled in degree-granting institutions in the United

States in 1976. This is compared to 48% for White women, and 46% for

Hispanic and Asian women (authors’ calculations from Digest of

Education Statistics 2002, Snyder 2002).4

By 1999/2000, Black women comprised approximately 63% of all

Black students attending college. In contrast, White women comprised

56% of all White students enrolled in institutions of higher education

(Snyder 2002).5 The corresponding percentages for Hispanic and Asian

women were 57% and 52%, respectively. More dramatically, Gniesha

3

Dinwiddie and Walter Allen (2003) found that Black women enrolled in

colleges and universities at roughly twice the rate of Black men.

Douglas Massey et al. (2003) and Michael Nettles and Laura Perna

(1997) also documented this pattern at selective colleges and

universities.

In this paper, we examine how the gender gap in degree

attainment occurs among Black males and females compared to White

males and females. To do this, we examine the process of stratification

from eighth grade to the completion of college. Using the National

Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS), we analyze how early

school experiences lead to divergent college completion patterns.

While we are most interested in the gender gap among Black students,

we compare Black students to White students in order to understand if

and how the gender gap among Blacks differs from the gender gap

among Whites.

Our paper begins by summarizing trends in degree attainment

and reviewing research that addresses racial and ethnic differences

in the educational outcomes of students, focusing primarily on the

postsecondary experiences of Black students. Then we review studies

that highlight the experiences of women in institutions of higher

education. It is noteworthy that few studies have explored the

intersection of race and gender among students in the context of

higher education. This is highly problematic given that prior research

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(Trent 1984) has shown that failing to disaggregate degree recipients

by race and sex can lead to erroneous interpretations of trends in

degree attainment. Our paper contributes to the literature by

examining degree attainment at the intersection of race and gender.

Next, we introduce our theoretical framework, describe our data,

and review descriptive analyses of school performance, educational

aspirations, and teachers’ expectations early in the youths’ educational

careers. We then present logistic regression models that examine how

grade point averages in eighth, tenth, and twelfth grades, and

students’ expectations (as well as teachers’ expectations of students in

tenth grade) affect the odds of attaining at least an associate’s degree

or a bachelor’s degree by December 2000. Students who graduated

from high school on time would have received their diploma eight and

a half years prior (in 1992). This is very crucial, as Clifford Adelman

(1998) has argued that when measuring degree attainment,

researchers should analyze receipt more than five or six years after

college enrollment. Lastly, we discuss the implications of our findings.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Degree Attainment

Using the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS),

Nettles and Perna (1997) document that nationally, the percentage of

students receiving associate’s degrees increased by about 34% from

5

1976/77 to 1993/94. Similarly, the percentage of African Americans

who received associate’s degrees grew 37% between 1976 and 1994.

However, these changes do not reflect the gender imbalance in degree

attainment. While the percentage of associate’s degrees awarded to

African American women increased by approximately 60%, there was

only a 11% increase for African American men (Nettles and Perna,

1997).

The percentage of associate’s degrees awarded in the United

States has increased by approximately 1% each year between 1991

and 1996. The percentage awarded to minorities has grown by

approximately 7% each year during the same time period (Chenoweth

1998). More specifically, Karin Chenoweth (1998) illustrated that rates

of associate’s degree attainment increased 6% each year for African

Americans, 7% for Native Americans, 8% for Hispanics, and 10% for

Asian Americans. In contrast, the percentage of Whites earning

associate’s degrees increased by less than 1% each year, and the

percentage earning bachelor’s degrees declined by approximately 1%

each year (Chenoweth 1998).

Bachelor’s degree completion rates have also increased in recent

years, with females’ rates showing the most growth (Trusty and Niles,

2004). Nationwide, the percentage of students receiving bachelor’s

degrees in the United States in 1993/94 increased by 27% from

1976/77. The percentage of bachelor’s degrees awarded to Black

6

students increased by 40%. However, the percentage of bachelor’s

degrees awarded to Black men only increased by 20%, while the

percentage awarded to Black women increased by 55% (Nettles and

Perna, 1997).

Jerry Trusty and Spencer Niles (2004) examined the factors that

lead to the successful completion of a bachelor’s degree, which they

defined as realized potential. Failing to earn a bachelor’s degree was

defined as lost talent. Their sample was comprised of students from

NELS who fit two criteria: (1) the students scored above the mean on

reading and math cognitive-ability tests, and (2) the students expected

to attain a bachelor’s degree or more education. Among the students

in the sample, 64% had completed a bachelor’s degree by 2000

(Trusty and Niles 2004). Trusty and Niles (2004) concludedthat even

after controlling for variables related to degree attainment—such as

race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, high school behaviors, and

parental behaviors—female students continued to be more likely than

male students to realize their potential. They also found that Asian

Americans were more likely than Latinos, Blacks, and Whites to earn a

bachelor’s degree.

Trusty and Niles (2004) discovered that background variables

explain 11% of the variability in bachelor’s degree attainment. High

school variables explain an additional 22%. They document that a one

standard deviation in socioeconomic status results in a 64% increase in

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the likelihood of earning a bachelor’s degree in 2000, concluding: “Our

results support the contention that the paths toward realized potential

or lost talent diverge early in students’ educational careers” (Trusty

and Niles, 2004 p. 12). They also concluded that the effects of high

school variables in their study were stronger for their sample of

students who evidenced above-average ability early in their

educational careers than for the general sample of “college-attending

degree-seeking” participants in Trusty’s (2004) study.

Black Students’ Access to Higher Education and Degree

Attainment

Some researchers have focused on the changes in access to higher

education and degree completion among Blacks and Whites over the

past several decades. According to Robert Hauser and Douglas

Anderson (1991), Black students’ college enrollment declined from

1977 to the mid-1980s while White students’ college enrollment grew

rapidly. The authors investigated whether a change in Black and/or

White students’ aspirations might explain this decline, but they did not

find differences in aspirations between Black seniors and White seniors

or between Black women and Black men.

In their review of the research on racial and ethnic stratification

of educational attainment, Grace Kao and Jennifer Thompson (2003)

asserted that Black students are less likely than White students to

8

make the immediate transition from high school to college. Laura

Walter Perna and Marvin Titus (2005) also found that Blacks are less

likely than Whites to enroll in a four-year or a two-year college in the

fall immediately following high school graduation. They concluded that

Blacks’ lower enrollment is due to their lower levels of human,

economic, and cultural capital and the reduced prevalence of social

networks that provide resources to promote enrollment in their high

schools. In an earlier paper, Perna (2000) concluded that after

controlling for factors related to college enrollment, such as gender,

costs, benefits, financial resources, and academic ability, Black

students were more likely than White students to enroll in a four-year

institution immediately after graduating from high school.

In The Shape of the River (1998), William Bowen and Derek Bok

argued that Black students perform below the levels predicted by their

SAT scores, and the degree of underperformance increases as SAT

scores rise. Extant research has also highlighted the effects of Black

students’ lower grades on persistence. In their study of

undergraduates enrolled in four-year public postsecondary institutions

in Indiana, Shouping Hu and Edward St. John (2001) concluded that the

persistence rate for Black students declined modestly in the early

1990s. They argued that differences in undergraduate grades help to

explain differences in persistence rates between Black, Hispanic, and

White students. Other researchers have suggested that students’ class

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backgrounds interact with race to influence persistence. Michael

Paulsen and Edward St. John (2002) argued that poor and working-

class Black students (but not middle- and upper-class Black students)

were more likely to persist in college than their White counterparts.

In their review of the research on educational achievement and

attainment, Kao and Thompson (2003) reported that Black students

take longer to complete college than White students. Similarly, Nettles

and Perna (1997) have argued that less than 20% of Black men and

less than 33% of Black women complete their bachelor’s degree in four

years. The authors also concluded that Blacks are less likely than

Whites to receive their degrees from prestigious research institutions.

Kao and Thompson (2003) found that racial and ethnic minorities are

also more likely than Whites to attend community colleges. In addition

to this, Black students are more likely to drop out of college (Nettles

and Perna, 1997). In their study of freshmen enrolled at the University

of Minnesota in 1991, Stephen DesJardins et al. (2002) argued that

students who took time off from college were more likely to be male or

from underrepresented minority groups. This is problematic given that

the authors noted that only a very small percentage of students that

discontinued their enrollment more than once eventually graduated

from college.

There are many possible explanations for the racial gap in

attainment as described above. Christopher Jencks and Meredith

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Phillips (1998) found that when they use the High School and Beyond

data set to analyze the graduation rates of Blacks and Whites who

have the same twelfth-grade test scores, Blacks are more likely than

Whites to complete college. Blacks’ relative advantage is even greater

when they compare Blacks and Whites with the same socioeconomic

status. This indicates that at least some of the disadvantage that

Blacks’ face in baccalaureate attainment is due to lower grades and

parents’ inability to pay for college.6 This conclusion is supported by

researchers who have demonstrated that larger percentages of Black

students (as compared to Whites) come from lower-class or middle-

class backgrounds (Hu and St. John, 2001; St. John et al., 2005). Blacks

are also more likely than Whites to be financially independent and to

have mothers with less than a bachelor’s degree (St. John et al., 2005).

Additionally, Hu and St. John (2001) discovered that Black students

were more likely than White students to earn grades of C or below.

Despite their lower grade point averages, Black students continue to

have high educational aspirations. Zhenchao Qian and Sampson Lee

Blair (1999) illustrated that educational performance has less effect on

the educational aspirations of Black students’ than it has on White,

Hispanic, or Asian students.

Female Students’ Access to Higher Education and Degree

Attainment

11

Andrew Hacker (2003) argued that, in general, females earn higher

grades than males, outnumber males in advanced placement classes,

and are more likely than males to attend college. There is some

evidence that these differences may be due, in part, to stereotype

threat. Douglas Massey and Mary Fischer (2005) assert that males are

more likely to internalize negative stereotypes than females. They

have also argued that this internalization causes male students to

disidentify with school which leads them to study less. Males are also

more likely to experience performance burden which increases text

anxiety and lowers academic achievement (Massey and Fischer, 2005).

Hacker (2003) has not interrogated the interaction between race-

gender differences, but he has investigated the role of class. His

results suggested that as family income decreases, the relative share

of female students who take the SAT increases. He suggested that one

reason for this trend may be the overrepresentation of female-headed

households at lower income levels. (Hacker posits that females may

have less influence over their sons.) This finding is especially relevant

to Black students because they disproportionately come from families

with the aforementioned demographic characteristics. In addition to

this, Roslyn Arlin Mickelson (1990) concluded that being female is

much more important in determining the academic achievement of

Black students than White students.

David Karen (1991) found that although more women than men

12

have graduated from high school since 1870, women’s enrollments in

higher education did not surpass men’s until 1979.7 He argued that

women’s participation in higher education follows a different pattern

from that of other subordinate groups because they grow up in the

same households and share the same social backgrounds as men.

Nevertheless, we argue that men and women may experience being

from the same social background in different ways. Previous research

has supported this claim. For example, Claudia Buchmann and Thomas

DiPrete (2006) concluded that the effect of fathers’ education on

college completion was more important for girls than boys prior to the

1950s, but that currently fathers’ education is more important for boys.

Other researchers have also highlighted the superior educational

outcomes of female students. Cohen and Nee (2000) illustrated that

Black enrollment in higher education is at an all-time high. However,

when they examined the educational trends of Black students more

closely, they found increasing postsecondary attainment for females

“in the midst of declining, stagnating, and at best minimal increases in

the educational achievement of their male counterparts” (Cohen and

Nee, 2000, p. 1176).8 St. John et al. (2005) also noted that compared to

White students, a larger share of Black students are female. This is in

spite of the fact that Black women rely on financial aid more than their

male counterparts because they are more likely to be financially

independent from their families and responsible for dependents (Cohen

13

and Nee, 2000). Black women are also more likely to come from

families where their parents had secured at most a high school

diploma. Finally, Nettles and Perna (1997) have argued that

approximately twice as many Black women (as compared to Black

men) receive bachelor’s degrees and master’s degrees annually, even

though Black women have lower SAT scores and are more likely to be

first-generation college students than Black men, Cohen and Nee

(2000) reviewed research that has tried to explain the gender gap in

Black enrollment, but they do not find satisfactory explanations.

Although it is beyond the scope of this paper, it is worth noting

that extant research has highlighted how neighborhood characteristics

may differentially affect the educational outcomes of males and

females. The results are mixed. Doris Entwisle et al. (1994) concluded

that neighborhood resources have a greater impact on boys’ math

scores than on girls’. Similarly, Jonathan Crane (1991) found that

having more residents in a neighborhood who worked in professional

or managerial occupations decreased the likelihood that Black males

would drop out of school, but he did not observe the same effect

among Black females.9 However, in their investigation of the effects of

neighborhood minority concentration, violence, and disorder on

academic achievement among minority students at selective colleges

and universities, Nicholas Ehrmann and Douglas Massey (2008) have

discovered that while males are more likely to be exposed to

14

neighborhood violence and disorder, the effects of exposure are more

prevalent among female students.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The blocked-opportunities framework (Hanson 1994; Kao and Tienda,

1998; Mickelson 1990) posits that a significant number of youths are

talented and motivated but do not achieve because of structural

barriers and their placement in the stratification system. Similarly,

Walter Allen and Daniel Solorzano (2001) have argued that one of the

biggest barriers to the success of Black college students is the

cumulative disadvantage they face from institutional racism and

blocked opportunities while concurrently being expected to achieve

within educational institutions that do not address this legacy of racial

stratification. Other scholars have asserted that schools actually

reinforce larger societal patterns of inequality. For example, Sandra

Hanson (1994) has argued that educational systems replicate the

status quo by using external criteria, such as gender, race, and class,

in order to select out youths who will be successful and to lower the

educational aspirations of those who will not be successful.

In their seminal work, Schooling in Capitalist America, Samuel

Bowles and Herbert Gintis (1976) argued that schools reinforce

patterns of race, class, and gender inequality created by capitalism. In

this paper, we examine teachers’ educational expectations for

15

students as one example of how schools and school personnel can

affect students’ educational expectations and subsequent degree

attainment. Scholars have criticized Bowles and Gintis (1976) for failing

to account for how students from the same socioeconomic background

can have different cultural orientations towards education (MacLeod

1995). In this paper, we argue that gender may be one factor that may

affect the degree attainment of students from the same social-class

background.

Previous research has documented the importance of teachers’

expectations and evaluations of students. For example, Ronald

Ehrenberg et al. (1995) found that Black, Hispanic, and White female

students were rated more highly than their male counterparts in each

subject area. In their analysis of teacher-student bonding, Robert

Crosnoe et al. (2004) asserted that students who had more positive

relationships with their teachers did better in school and had fewer

disciplinary problems. Because the authors observed that boys and

children of color had lower levels of teacher-student bonding, they

concluded that minority boys may be the most at risk of alienation in

school. Ann Arnett Ferguson (2001) and Nancy Lopez (2003) also

reported that boys were punished much more often than were girls,

and they were punished more severely than girls for breaking the

same rules. These results lead us to conclude that teachers may be

less likely to think that boys will attend college and that this negative

16

evaluation may have an effect on boys’ lower likelihood of degree

attainment.

Other researchers have focused on how family socioeconomic

status has influenced students’ degree attainment. Scholars working in

the status attainment tradition have attempted to model how

socioeconomic status is passed on to future generations within

families. In The American Occupational Structure, Peter Blau and Otis

Dudley Duncan (1967) used father’s educational and occupational

attainment to predict the occupational prestige of the son’s job. They

found that the higher the father’s educational and occupational status,

the higher the son’s socioeconomic status. William Sewell and Vimal

Shah (1968) extended the work of Blau and Duncan (1967) by

introducing psychological (mental ability) and social psychological

(occupational and educational aspirations and significant other

influences) variables to the model. Here we examine teachers’

educational expectations for students as one type of significant other

influence.

It is important to differentiate aspirations from expectations

and attitudes (Mickelson 1990). One should not take for granted that

these views on education complement each other. According to

Hauser and Anderson (1991), “Aspirations are desired outcomes that

are not limited by constraints on resources” (p. 270). In contrast,

expectations are more realistic assessments of what is likely to

17

happen in the future. Finally, attitudes are universal beliefs students

have about the value of education. In this paper, we focus on

students’ educational expectations because we want to analyze how

students’ beliefs in their own ability combined with an analysis of

their life circumstances affect their degree attainment. We now

discuss the data and methods employed in this paper.

DATA AND METHODS

In this paper, we use NELS data from 1988 to 2000 to examine

patterns of postsecondary attainment among Black males and

females and White males and females. NELS is a nationally

representative sample of students in 1000 schools who were eighth

graders in 1988. In the base year, 24,599 eighth graders were

surveyed. A portion of these respondents was then resurveyed in

1990, 1992, 1994, and 2000. In this paper, we utilize information

from the base year (1988) to the fourth follow-up (2000) to examine

the determinants of Black students’ and White students’ likelihood of

attaining an associate’s or a bachelor’s degree.

NELS is an ideal data source for this project for a number of

reasons. First, the longitudinal design allows researchers to examine

the educational experiences of Black males and females and White

males and females from eighth grade until well beyond high school

graduation. Secondly, NELS collected information from students,

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parents, teachers, and administrators. This allows an investigator to

cross-reference data, which increases the reliability of self-reports.

The survey design also enables researchers to match students and

teachers. We also do not have to rely on retrospective responses

regarding past events.

It is important to note that because teachers are tied to the

sample of students, NELS does not provide a nationally representative

sample of teachers.10 However it does provide teacher evaluations for

a nationally representative sample of students. Finally, NELS is an ideal

data source because a large number of Black students—the population

of interest in this study—were sampled. In this paper, we utilize

information from 974 Black students and 7632 White students who

entered the study in eighth grade and remained in the study until the

fourth follow-up survey in 2000.11 We also examine contextual data

from the parent files in 1988 and teacher files in 1990.12 The next

section provides detailed descriptions of the variables of interest in this

paper.

Variables of Interest

In Table 1, we present information on the student, parent, and teacher

variables of interest for this paper. We begin with variables that

measure students’ demographic characteristics. First, we constructed

four categories that combine race and gender. Black male is a dummy

19

variable where 1 equals Black male, and 0 equals Other. Black female,

White male, and White female are coded in the same way. Next, we

examine three measures of postsecondary attainment. The first

measure codes degree attainment in five categories, ranging from 0

(no degree), 1 (certificate or license), 2 (associate’s degree), 3

(bachelor’s degree), 4 (master’s degree), to 5 (doctorate or

professional degree). We also constructed two dummy variables that

measure whether the respondent received an associate’s degree or

more or a bachelor’s degree or more by 2000.13

[Table 1 about here]

We use two dependent variables for the logistic regression

models. These are (1) whether or not a student received an

associate’s degree or more and (2) whether the student attained a

bachelor’s degree or more by 2000. In 2000, students who graduated

on time would have been out of high school for approximately eight

years. If a student reported receiving no postsecondary education;

some postsecondary education, but no degree; or a certificate or

license, the student was coded as having less than an associate’s

degree. If a student reported receiving no postsecondary education;

some postsecondary education, but no degree; a certificate or

license; or an associate’s degree, the student was coded as having

less than a bachelor’s degree.

Next, we analyzed a number of variables from the parent file to

20

obtain reliable information on the family background of the student.

The educational attainment of mothers and fathers ranges from 0 (did

not finish high school) to 7 (holds a graduate or professional degree).

Mothers’ and fathers’ occupation is grouped into large summary

categories. For example, laborers include craftspeople, farmers, farm

managers, laborers, operatives, and technical workers. Service

occupations include clerical workers, sales associates, and service

workers. Professionals include managers, accountants, artists, nurses,

doctors, lawyers, and proprietors. Family income is reported in 1987

dollars. Following the definition used by Clifford Adelman (1999), we

use the socioeconomic status composite variable instead of its

component parts in our analyses. The variable was created by the

National Center for Education Statistics and is composed of the

aforementioned variables—parents’ education, parents’ occupations,

and family income. It ranges from a minimum of -2.87 to a maximum

of 2.56.

The next three family background variables come from students’

eighth-grade survey. Two of these variables are dummy variables that

measure whether the student lived with their mother and father and

whether the student’s parents were married. The last variable is a

continuous variable which measures the number of people living in the

student’s household. The scale ranges from 2 to 10 or more household

members.

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The fourth group of variables examines students’ previous

academic achievement. Students’ self-reported overall grade point

averages from sixth to eighth grade, tenth grade, and twelfth grade

are assessed using variables that are measured on a four-point scale.

Higher values reflect higher grades. Grades in English, math, science,

and social studies contribute to this overall grade point average.

The first variable in the high school status section measures

timely completion of high school. Students receive a 1 if they finished

high school on time (in 1992 or earlier). They receive a 0 if they

finished high school late or not at all. The second variable details

students’ dropout status. Students receive a 1 if the respondent

dropped out of high school at least once. In auxiliary analyses we

examined the effect of whether a student received a GED or a high

school diploma, but the variable did not provide additional explanatory

power to the model.

The next section of explanatory variables includes measures of

students’ educational expectations and teachers’ educational

expectations for students. Students’ postsecondary education plans in

eighth, tenth, and twelfth grades are measured by a categorical

variable where 1 equals expects to graduate from college, and 0

equals does not expect to graduate from college. In 1990, teachers

were asked to predict whether or not each of their students would

probably attend college, where 0 indicates a negative response, and 1

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indicates an affirmative response.14

The final section of independent variables examines

respondents’ behavior in school. For the first variable, students

receive a 1 if they have ever gotten into a fight with another student

or a 0 if they have not. The second variable measures whether

students have been sent to the office because they were

misbehaving. Students receive a 1 if they have been sent to the

office or a 0 otherwise.

In the next section, we present our results. First, we analyze

descriptive statistics for the variables of interest for Black males and

females and White males and females. Then, we use binary logistic

regression to examine how demographic characteristics, high school

status, previous academic achievement, family background

characteristics, and postsecondary expectations affect students’

postsecondary attainment in 2000.

RESULTS

Descriptive Statistics

Table 2 reports means and frequencies for the variables of interest in

this paper. We also report the results of significance tests between

same-race males and females. As we can see, approximately 35% of

Black females reported receiving at least an associate’s degree by

2000. The corresponding percentage for Black males was 25%. About

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48% of White females received an associate’s degree or higher by

2000. Approximately 43% of White males reported receiving at least a

two-year degree. This indicates that females in each racial group were

significantly more likely to receive an associate’s degree or more

education than men. However, the gap between males and females is

larger among Black respondents.

[Table 2 about here]

As expected, a smaller percentage of Black students and White

students reported receiving a bachelor’s degree. The gender gaps are

also slightly smaller within each racial group than they were when we

examined associate’s degree attainment. Our results indicate that

approximately 28% of Black females and 19% of Black males received

a bachelor’s degree or more education by 2000. The corresponding

percentages for White females and males were 40% and 36%,

respectively. Once again, the gender gap appears to be wider among

Black students than among White students. Black students’ mean

postsecondary attainment in 2000 varies between 0.8 and 1.1, which

indicates they received a certificate or license. White students’ mean

postsecondary attainment is between 1.3 and 1.5. We see again that in

each racial group, women have higher levels of postsecondary

attainment than men. The gender gap remains larger among Blacks

than Whites. We should also note that White students appear to have

higher rates of postsecondary attainment than Black students for all

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measures of attainment.

Mothers’ and fathers’ education, occupation, and family income

comprise family socioeconomic status in 1988. Since we do not expect

average family socioeconomic status to differ by gender within racial

groups, it should not be surprising that the gender differences for Black

respondents are not statistically significant. In contrast, the mean for

White respondents is highly significant. We argue this may be because

White males in the sample are more positively selected than White

females, given that males tend to have lower response rates than

females, and high socioeconomic status individuals tend to have higher

response rates. We also examine three measures which provide more

contextual information about respondents’ family background. Our

results indicate that less than half of the Black students in our sample

were raised by their mother and father. However, Black males are

slightly more likely than Black females to have been raised by both

parents. In contrast, approximately 72% of White respondents were

raised by their mother and father. There are also racial disparities in

parents’ marital status. Approximately 84% of White students, but only

55% of Blacks students, reported that their parents were married. Both

Black and White respondents reported living in homes with four or five

family members.

Next, we examine students’ previous academic achievement. By

analyzing students’ self-reported grades over three points in time, we

25

discover some interesting patterns. First, the gender difference is

highly significant for both racial groups at all points in time. Females

consistently outperform their same-race counterparts. The gender gap

among Black students is also wider than it is among White students at

all three points in time. Finally, all students’ grade point averages drop

over time. The grade reduction is most pronounced between tenth and

twelfth grades and is more substantial for males in each racial group.

Black students’ grades drop by more than one grade point. This brings

their grade point average from about a B to a C. White students’

grades drop by less than one grade point from about a B to a B-/C+.

These results are very important given that Walter Allen and Nesha

Haniff (1991) concluded that for the students in their sample, high

school grades are the strongest predictor of college grades.

The high school status variables do not vary significantly by

gender with the exception of high school sequence for White students.

In this case, White females are slightly more likely than White males to

finish high school on time. About 18%–21% of Black students reported

dropping out at least once in their high school career as compared to

12%–13% of White students.

Students’ post-secondary expectations decline over time,

perhaps because of their declining grade point averages. There is

only one significant gender difference. In the tenth grade, White

males are more likely than White females to expect to graduate from

26

college. In contrast, teachers are more likely to report that female

students will probably attend college. When respondents are in the

tenth grade, teachers predict that approximately 60% of Black

female students will attend college as compared to 48% of Black

male students. The corresponding percentages for White female and

male students are approximately 71% and 67%, respectively. As we

can see, the gender gap in teachers’ expectations for students to

attend college is much wider among Black students. It also seems

that teachers think that White students are more likely to attend

college than Black students.

There are highly significant gender differences in students’

behavior for both White and Black students. Black males and White

males are more likely than same-race females to report fighting with

another student. Approximately 30% of White males and 33% of Black

males have been in a fight with a fellow student. Male students are

also more likely than female students to have been sent to the office

because they misbehaved. However, approximately 49% of Black

males report being disciplined in this manner as opposed to 38% of

White males. These findings support results from previous research

where teachers reported that Black males were their most disruptive

students (Brunn and Kao, 2004).

Multivariate Analyses

27

Table 3 presents the results of a binary logistic regression of

demographic characteristics, previous academic achievement, high

school status, teachers’ expectation that students would probably

attend college, and students’ own expectations for whether they would

graduate from college on whether a student received at least an

associate’s degree by 2000. In Model 1 (the baseline model) all race-

gender dummies are significant. We can see that Black males have

0.36 times the odds of White males of receiving an associate’s degree

or more education by 2000. Black females and White females have

0.69 and 1.28 times the odds, respectively, of completing associate’s

degrees compared to White males. This indicates that with no controls

in the model, Black males and females are disadvantaged relative to

White males, and White females are advantaged relative to White

males.

[Table 3 about here]

In Model 2, we add respondents’ socioeconomic status to the

model. This variable is highly significant, with respondents’ odds of

attaining an associate’s degree or more education almost quadrupling

for each one-unit increase in the socioeconomic status variable. After

controlling for socioeconomic status in Model 2, Black females are 1.45

times more likely than White males to attain an associate’s degree.

However, Black males are still disadvantaged relative to White males,

but less so than in Model 1. After taking socioeconomic status into

28

account, Black males have about half the odds of White males of

receiving an associate’s degree or more education. In contrast, White

females are even more advantaged than White males after controlling

for socioeconomic status.

Model 3 adds controls for previous academic achievement, high

school status, and students’ expectations. Our results indicate that

students from privileged socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to

have higher grade point averages, to have higher academic

expectations, and/or to finish high school on time. The odds ratio for

Black males is no longer significant in Model 3, suggesting that the

odds of attaining an associate’s degree are comparable for Black males

and White males. The advantage of Black females over White males

increases, while the advantage of White females decreases.

What is remarkable is that grade point average from junior high

school, tenth grade, and twelfth grade are all highly significant in

predicting the odds of earning an associate’s degree.15 For sixth

through eighth grade, a one-point increase on a four-point scale is

associated with a 67% increase in the odds of attaining an associate’s

degree or more. The corresponding percentages for tenth grade and

twelfth grade are approximately 26% and 111%, respectively.

A student who finished high school on time is 3.23 times more

likely than a respondent who finishes high school late or not at all to

receive an associate’s degree or more education. A respondent who

29

dropped out of high school at least once has less than half the odds

of receiving an associate’s degree as a respondent who never

dropped out of high school. Students’ educational expectations are

also highly significant. Students who report in the eighth grade that

they expect to graduate from college are 1.16 times more likely to

earn an associate’s degree than those who do not expect to

graduate from college. The corresponding figures for tenth and

twelfth grade are 1.42 times the odds and 1.23 times the odds of

students who do not expect to graduate from college, respectively.16

Given that there were missing data on the expectations questions,

especially in twelfth grade, we include a dummy variable that is

equal to one if the respondent skipped this question. The variable is

significant in the twelfth grade, indicating that students who skip this

question are less likely to earn an associate’s degree.

In Model 4 we add teachers’ expectations to the equation. This

variable is highly significant. Students whose tenth-grade teachers said

that they would probably attend college are about 2.5 times more

likely to earn an associate’s degree or more education than students

whose teachers said they probably would not attend college. It is

interesting that teachers’ expectations of students is such a strong

predictor even after controlling for respondents’ grade point average.

In the final model, (Model 5) we attempt to identify factors that might

mediate the relationship between family socioeconomic status and

30

degree attainment. By including these variables, we account for almost

half of the effect of socioeconomic status in Model 1. Students who

were raised by both parents are 1.73 times more likely than students

who were raised in another family formation to earn an associate’s

degree. In contrast, for each additional person in a respondent’s

family, his or her odds of attaining an associate’s degree decrease by

approximately 11%.

We also added two measures that are associated with students’

behavior in an effort to explain the source of teachers’ expectations.

However, neither measure is significant. In the final model, Black

females and White females remain advantaged relative to White

males. Black females’ odds of attaining an associate’s degree are 1.77

times White males’ odds. White females’ odds are 1.22 times White

males’ odds. The effects of the control variables remain the same.

Table 4 presents the results of a binary logistic regression of

demographic characteristics, previous academic achievement, high

school status, and teachers’ and students’ expectations on the odds of

students receiving a bachelor’s degree or more education by 2000. In

Model 1, the baseline model, the race-gender dummies are highly

significant. As we saw when associate’s degree or more education was

the dependent variable, compared to White males, Black males and

females are disadvantaged in attaining a bachelor’s degree and White

females are advantaged. Specifically, Black males, Black females, and

31

White females have 0.36, 0.66, and 1.26 times the odds of White

males, respectively.

[Table 4 about here]

When we add socioeconomic status to the equation in Model 2,

White females become even more advantaged relative to White males.

Black males remain disadvantaged, but not as severely as they are in

Model 1. After controlling for socioeconomic status, Black females are

more likely than White males to attain a bachelor’s degree or more

education by 2000. This indicates that Black females’ disadvantage

relative to White males in Model 1 was due to their less privileged

socioeconomic standing. Recall that we also observed this pattern

when an associate’s degree or more education was the dependent

variable. The socioeconomic status variable is highly significant in

Model 2—every one-point increase in standing increases respondents’

odds of earning a bachelor’s degree or more education by a factor of

five.

In Model 3, we add variables to measure previous academic

achievement, high school status, and students’ expectations. After

controlling for these variables, the Black- male dummy variable is no

longer significant. This indicates that Black males’ odds of attaining a

bachelor’s degree or more education by 2000 are no different than

White males’ odds after accounting for socioeconomic status and high

32

school experiences.

Previous academic achievement, at all three time points, is

highly significant. A one-point increase on a four-point scale for grade

point average multiplies respondents’ odds of attaining a bachelor’s

degree or more education in 2000 by approximately 2.0, 1.4, and 2.5

in sixth through eighth grade, tenth grade, and twelfth grade,

respectively. Respondents who finished high school on time were more

than 4.5 times more likely to attain a bachelor’s degree than those

who finished high school late or not at all. Students who dropped out of

school at least once by 1994 had about 0.22 times the odds of earning

a bachelor’s degree compared to students who never dropped out of

school. Students’ educational expectations are also statistically

significant. As we anticipated, students who expect to graduate from

college are more likely to receive a bachelor’s degree. In Model 4, we

add teachers’ expectations of students. Students whose tenth-grade

teachers said that they would probably attend college are almost three

times more likely to get a bachelor’s degree or more education than

students whose teachers said that they probably would not attend

college. The results for the other control variables are largely

unchanged.

In Model 5 we add variables to more fully understand how

socioeconomic status affects degree attainment and to understand

how teachers predict students’ likelihood of college attendance after

33

holding students’ academic achievement constant. We find that

students who were raised by their mother and father have more than

two times the odds of earning a bachelor’s degree compared to

students who were not raised by both parents. However, for each

additional person living in a student’s family, his or her odds of earning

a bachelor’s degree decrease by about 12%. Respondents who have

gotten into a fight with another student have 0.8 times the odds of

receiving a bachelor’s degree or more education, compared to

respondents who have not gotten into a fight.

Given that the question teachers were asked is more directly

about postsecondary enrollment rather than postsecondary degree

attainment, in auxiliary analyses we examined the effect of teachers’

expectations on whether students reported receiving some

postsecondary education or no postsecondary education by 1994. If a

student reported receiving no postsecondary education, that they were

currently working on a certificate or license, or that they had received

a certificate or license, they were coded as having no postsecondary

education. If a student reported that they were currently working

toward an associate’s or a bachelor’s degree, had received some

postsecondary education, or had already received an associate’s

degree, they were coded as having some postsecondary education.17

Students whose teachers said that they would probably attend college

were 1.8 times more likely to have received some postsecondary

34

education than students whose teachers said that they probably would

not attend college. This indicates that teachers’ expectations have

similar effects on both enrollment and attainment.

While Tables 3 and 4 give us information on how Black males and

females compare to White males with regard to associate’s and

bachelor’s degree attainment, they do not tell us much about how

Black males and females compare to each other. We are also

interested in how Black and White females’ likelihood of attaining a

degree differs. In order to observe these relationships we reran the

models in Table 3 and Table 4 while switching the reference category.

In Figures 1 through 4 we present the odds ratios for the race-gender

dummies. The figures are presented on a logarithmic scale. As the

odds ratios approach one, each race-gender group becomes more

similar to the reference category. The control variables remain in the

model, but are not presented in the figures.

Figure 1 presents the race-gender effects on associate’s degree

attainment when White females are the reference category. In Model

1, Black males, Black females, and White males are disadvantaged

relative to White females with regard to their odds of attaining an

associate’s degree or more education by 2000. After controlling for

socioeconomic status in Model 2, the odds ratio for Black females is

no longer statistically significant. This indicates that Black females

and White females from the same socioeconomic background are

35

equally likely to hold at least an associate’s degree by 2000.

However, Black males and White males continue to be disadvantaged

relative to White females. In fact, White males are more

disadvantaged than they were in Model 1.

[Figure 1 about here]

Recall that in Model 3 we add controls for previous academic

achievement, high school status, and students’ educational

expectations to the equation. Black males and White males remain

disadvantaged relative to White females, however not to the extent

that they were in previous models. After controlling for teachers’

expectations in Model 4, Black males and White males remain

disadvantaged as compared to White females. In the full model, Model

5, we control for household composition, parents’ marital status, family

size, and students’ behavior. After controlling for these factors, Black

males are no longer statistically different from White females. In

contrast, Black females regain their advantage over White females.

White males remain disadvantaged relative to White females.

Figure 2 presents the race-gender effects on associate’s degree

attainment when Black males are the reference category. In Model 1,

White males, White females, and Black females are advantaged. Black

females have about 1.9 times the odds of attaining as associate’s

36

degree compared to Black males when there are no control variables in

the model. The results from Model 1 in Figures 1 and 2 indicate that

White females are the most advantaged group, and Black males are

the least advantaged group with regard to associate’s degree

attainment. White males and Black females fall in between, in that

order.

[Figure 2 about here]

In Model 2, when Black males are the reference category, White

males and White females are not as advantaged as they were

compared to Black males in Model 1. In contrast, Black females are

even more advantaged than they were with no controls in the model.

These findings indicate that among Black males and females from the

same socioeconomic status background, Black females are 2.5 times

as likely as Black males to earn an associate’s degree.

However, after controlling for previous academic achievement,

high school status, and students’ expectations in Model 3, White

males’ odds of attaining an associate’s degree are no different than

Black males’ odds. White females and Black females remain

advantaged relative to Black males, but to a lesser degree than before.

In Models 4 and 5, Black females remain advantaged relative to Black

males. However, in Model 5, White females’ odds are no longer

37

statistically different from Black males’ odds of attaining an associate’s

degree.

Figure 3 presents the race-gender effects on bachelor’s degree

attainment when White females are the reference category while

controlling for the other variables in the model. As in Figure 1, we see

that in Model 1, when White female is the reference category, Black

males, Black females, and White males are disadvantaged in their

likelihood of attaining a bachelor’s degree. After controlling for

socioeconomic status in Model 2, Black females are no longer

statistically different from White females. Black males are less

disadvantaged than they were in Model 1, and White males are more

disadvantaged than they were in Model 1. This indicates that on

average, Black males and females in this sample are from less

privileged socioeconomic backgrounds than White females, and on

average, White males in this sample are from more privileged

socioeconomic backgrounds than White females.

[Figure 3 about here]

After controlling for previous academic achievement, high school

status, and students’ expectations in Model 3, Black males are no

longer significantly different from White females. However, Black

females have 1.62 times the odds of attaining a bachelor’s degree

38

compared to White females. Black females continue to have higher

odds of bachelor’s degree attainment than White females in Models 4

and 5. Their advantage grows slightly after controlling for household

composition, parents’ marital status, family size, and respondents’

behavior. White males remain disadvantaged as compared to White

females in both models.

Figure 4 illustrates that when no controls are present, White

males are about 2.8 times more likely than Black males to receive a

bachelor’s degree or more education, and White females are about

3.5 times more likely. Black females are almost two times as likely as

Black males to receive a bachelor’s degree or more education by

2000.

[Figure 4 about here]

Similar to our findings in Figure 2, we see that when Black male

is the reference category in Model 2, the relative advantage of White

males’ and White females’ with regard to bachelor’s degree

attainment decreases in magnitude, and the relative advantage of

Black females increases (as compared to Model 1). In Model 3, White

male and female students are no longer statistically different from

Black male students. However, Black females retain their advantage.

Black females continue to have higher odds of bachelor’s degree

39

attainment than Black males in Models 4 and 5. Their advantage

grows slightly after controlling for household composition, parents’

marital status, family size, and respondents’ behavior.

Discussion and Implications for Future Research

There are many commonalities in our examination of the odds of

completing at least an associate’s degree versus at least a bachelor’s

degree. With no controls in the model, females of both races are more

likely than their same-race male counterparts to receive at least an

associate’s degree or at least a bachelor’s degree. In fact, after

controlling for socioeconomic status alone, Black females are more

likely than White males to hold at least an associate’s or a bachelor’s

degree. This suggests that socioeconomic status differences account

for the differential in degree completion between Black women and

White men. Our results also indicate that for Black males and females

with the same socioeconomic status background, Black females are 2.5

times as likely as Black males to earn an associate’s degree or a

bachelor’s degree by 2000. It is also noteworthy that after controlling

for differences in socioeconomic status, Black females and White

females have comparable odds of attaining an associate’s degree or a

bachelor’s degree. In fact, in later models, Black females have greater

odds than White females of attaining a postsecondary degree.

Our results point to the importance of early school achievement

40

for later educational attainment. In fact, after controlling for

socioeconomic status, previous academic achievement, high school

status, and students’ expectations, Black males’ odds of attaining an

associate’s or a bachelor’s degree are no different from White males’

odds. Black males’ odds of bachelor’s degree attainment are also

comparable to White females’ odds after controlling for the

aforementioned variables. However, Black males’ odds of attaining an

associate’s degree are additionally dependent on teachers’

expectations, respondents’ behavior, and family composition in order

to be equal to White females’ odds. These results suggest that the

differentiation along racial lines occurs in secondary school—

differences in attainment simply mirror earlier patterns of stratification.

This conclusion supports Trusty and Niles’s (2004) earlier study.

Previous research suggests that the negative experiences of

Black students on college campuses may play a role in their higher

attrition rates as compared to Whites. For example, Vincent Tinto

(1993) argued that students who are not attached to their school are

more likely to drop out. Extant research has suggested that Black

students may find it difficult to become attached to the colleges and

universities they attend. In The Agony of Education (1996), Joe Feagin

et al. conducted focus group interviews with thirty-six randomly

selected Black juniors and seniors at a predominantly White public

university. Respondents reported that they often felt invisible on

41

campus, that they perceived physical spaces on campus to be hostile,

and that White students refused to recognize their unearned

privilege.18 Our results, however, underscore the importance of middle

school and high school experiences on attainment. What remains

unexplained in our results is the gender disparity. Because females’

advantage over same-race males in educational attainment cannot yet

be explained, it is important that future research examine students’

college experiences at the intersection of race and gender categories.

In our full models for both associate’s and bachelor’s degree

attainment, Black females’ odds are greater than those of White males,

White females, and Black males. These results highlight the progress

that Black females have made toward postsecondary attainment.

However, our findings also indicate that we must continue to search for

interventions that address the lower grade point averages of Black

males. These interventions should begin in elementary school because

our results, as well as the work of previous researchers, have

demonstrated that the gender-gap in academic performance already

exists in eighth grade.

In addition to grades, socioeconomic status and students’

educational expectations continue to be important predictors of degree

attainment. Teachers’ expectations also appear to have powerful

effects in these analyses. However, it is unclear whether teachers are

making accurate predictions of students’ likelihood of college

42

attendance based on observed academic potential that cannot be

measured by grades alone, or if teachers’ lower expectations are

depressing students’ subsequent attainment. Future research should

attempt to disentangle these effects.

Corresponding author: Rachelle Brunn, Robert F. Wagner Graduate

School of Public Service, New York University, 295 Lafayette St., New

York, NY10012. E-mail: rjb7@nyu.edu

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Table 1. Variable DescriptionsLabel Description

Demographic Characteristics:Black maleBlack femaleWhite maleWhite female

1 = Black & male; 0 = Other1 = Black & female; 0 = Other 1 = White & male; 0 = Other 1 = White & female; 0 = Other

Postsecondary Attainment:Degree attainment in 2000 0 = No degree; 1 = Certificate or license;

2 = Associate’s; 3 = Bachelor’s; 4 = Master’s;5 = PhD or professional

Associate’s degree in 2000 0 = Less than an associate’s1 = Associate’s or more

Bachelor’s degree in 2000 0 = Less than a bachelor’s1 = Bachelor’s or more

Family Background:Socioeconomic status compositeMother-and-father-raised respondentRespondent’s family sizeRespondent’s parents are married

-2.875–2.560 = No; 1 = Yes 2–10 or more 0 = No; 1 = Yes

Previous Achievement:Grade 6–8 compositeGrade 10 compositeGrade 12 composite

0.0–4.00.0–4.00.0–4.0

High School Status:High school sequence

Ever dropped out of high school

0 = Finished hs late or not at all1 = Finished hs in 1992 or earlier

0 = Never; 1 = Dropped out at least once

Students’ Expectations: 8th grade expect to graduate from college 10th grade expect to graduate from college 12th grade expect to graduate from college

0 = does not expect to graduate from college 1 = expects to graduate from college

Teachers’ Expectations: Teachers’ 10th grade prediction that student will probably attend college

0 = No; 1 = Yes

Students’ Behavior:8th grade fought with another student 8th grade sent to office for misbehaving

0 = No; 1 = Yes 0 = No; 1 = Yes

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Table 2. Means and Frequencies for Variables of Interest (N=8606)Blacks Whites

Males Females Males Females

Postsecondary Attainment:Degree attainment in 2000 0.79*** 1.14 1.33*** 1.51 Associate’s or more in 2000 25.18%** 34.73% 43.06%*** 48.26% Bachelor’s or more in 2000 19.37%** 27.79% 36.14%*** 40.18%

Family Background:Socioeconomic status in 1988 -0.39 -0.46 0.07*** 0.00 Mother-and-father-raised respondent 49.76%* 42.24% 73.79% 71.84% Respondent’s family size 4.64 4.68 4.46** 4.54 Respondent’s parents are married 57.40% 52.30% 84.41% 83.54%

Previous Achievement:Grade 6–8 composite 2.79*** 3.00 3.04*** 3.18 Grade 10 composite 2.75** 2.90 2.97*** 3.08 Grade 12 composite 1.61*** 1.90 2.19*** 2.41

High School Status:High school sequence 75.72% 78.49% 86.32%* 87.93% Ever dropped out of high school 20.91% 17.92% 12.12% 12.62%

Students’ Expectations:8th grade expect to graduate from college 41.83% 36.74% 45.61% 45.58% 10th grade expect to graduate from college

30.77% 26.16% 35.29%* 32.69%

12th grade expect to graduate from college

29.33% 26.16% 31.61% 30.53%

Teachers’ Expectations: Student will probably attend college 48.23%** 60.36% 67.21%*** 71.31%

Students’ Behavior:8th grade fought with another student 32.82%*** 17.80% 29.83%*** 7.50% 8th grade sent to office for misbehaving 48.85%*** 30.04% 37.55%*** 15.15%

N 416 558 3613 4019 Notes: Means and frequencies are calculated using nonmissing values. Means and frequencies with asterisks are significantly different from same-race females.*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001

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Table 3. Effects of Previous Achievement, High School Status, and Background Characteristics on Associate’s Degree Attainment Reported as Odds Ratios (N = 8606)Variable Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 Model 5

Demographic Characteristics:Black maleBlack femaleWhite female[White male]

0.36***0.69***1.28***

0.57***1.45***1.49***

0.891.60***1.25***

0.871.53***1.24***

0.941.77***1.22**

Family Background:Socioeconomic status in 1988Mother-and-father raised respondentRespondent’s family sizeRespondent’s parents are married

3.94*** 2.59*** 2.37*** 2.27***1.73***0.89***0.97

Previous Academic Achievement:Grade 6–8 compositeGrade 10 compositeGrade 12 composite

1.67***1.26***2.11***

1.57***1.18**1.94***

1.54***1.17**1.94***

High School Status:High school sequenceEver dropped out of high school

3.23***0.48***

3.11***0.49***

3.08***0.55**

Students’ Expectations:8th grade expect to graduate from college10th grade expect to graduate from college12th grade expect to graduate from college

1.16**1.42***1.23***

1.14*1.35***1.19**

1.13*1.35***1.19**

8th grade expect missing10th grade expect missing12th grade expect missing

1.700.770.61***

1.830.870.62***

1.700.790.61***

Teachers’ Expectations:Student will probably attend college 2.54*** 2.52***

Students’ Behavior:8th grade fought with another student8th grade sent to office for misbehaving

0.861.02

Generalized R2 0.02 0.18 0.35 0.36 0.37 *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001

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Table 4. Effects of Previous Achievement, High School Status, and Background Characteristics on Bachelor’s Degree Attainment Reported as Odds Ratios (N = 8606)Variable Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 Model 5

Demographic Characteristics:Black maleBlack femaleWhite female[White male]

0.36***0.66***1.26***

0.61***1.55***1.51***

1.201.97***1.21**

1.211.90***1.21**

1.342.30***1.19*

Family Background:Socioeconomic status in 1988Mother-and-father-raised respondent Respondent’s family sizeRespondent’s parents are married

5.05*** 3.64*** 3.32*** 3.19***2.16***0.88***0.86

Previous Academic Achievement:Grade 6–8 compositeGrade 10 compositeGrade 12 composite

1.95***1.40***2.46***

1.83***1.30***2.25***

1.80***1.29***2.25***

High School Status:High school sequenceEver dropped out of high school

4.61***0.22***

4.42***0.23***

4.44***0.28***

Students’ Expectations:8th grade expect to graduate from college10th grade expect to graduate from college12th grade expect to graduate from college

1.23**1.41***1.36***

1.22**1.34***1.31***

1.20**1.34***1.31***

8th grade expect missing10th grade expect missing12th grade expect missing

1.020.870.61***

1.131.010.62**

0.930.900.60***

Teachers’ Expectations:Student will probably attend college 2.97*** 2.94***

Students’ Behavior:8th grade fought with another student8th grade sent to office for misbehaving

0.80*1.06

Generalized R2 0.02 0.21 0.39 0.40 0.41 *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001

54

Fig. 1. Associate’s Degree Attainment

Ref. Category = White Females

55

Fig. 2. Associate’s Degree Attainment

White male White female Black female

Ref. Category = Black Males

56

Fig. 3. Bachelor’s Degree Attainment

1 An earlier draft of this paper was presented at the 2005 Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association. This research was supported by a grant from the Spencer Foundation and the University of Pennsylvania Research Foundation.2 Lisa Hudson et al. (2005) found no difference in the gender gap among Whites aged 18–24 as compared to the gender gap among Blacks of the same age group. It should be noted that the authors use participation rates as opposed to enrollment rates.3 White males continued to receive more bachelor’s degrees than White females in 1980/81. However, in 1984/85 White females outnumbered White males among recipients of bachelor’s degree (authors’ calculation from the Digest of Education Statistics 2005, Snyder et al., 2006).4 By 1980, White females had surpassed White males in postsecondary enrollment (authors’ calculation from the Digest of Education Statistics 2002, Snyder 2002).5 Michael Nettles and Laura Perna (1997) found that Black females’ enrollment is 24% higher than their male counterparts. The corresponding percentage for White females is 10%.6 Gender differences among Blacks, which is the primary topic of this paper, are also important and will be discussed later.7 As mentioned earlier, Black females’ enrollment in higher education had already surpassed Black males’ enrollment when the Census began tracking enrollment systematically by race and gender in 1976 (Cross 1999).8 Examining increases in bachelor’s degree attainment between 1975/76 and 1980/81, William Trent (1991) finds that most of the growth for all racial groups was attributable to females.9 Crane (1991) noted that the lack of a negative effect among Black females may be a result of sampling bias.10 After the students were identified in the base year, the school coordinator picked a teacher from a “hard class” (math or science) and a “soft class” (English or history) to complete the teacher questionnaire for each student. In follow-up one, teachers from a hard class and a soft class were surveyed again. In follow-up two, only one teacher was surveyed (Curtin et al., 2002).11 To reduce the amount of missing data we only include in the sample Blacks and Whites who filled out questionnaires in 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, and 2000. We also use the appropriate weights in the descriptive statistics and the multivariate analyses to account for this sampling design.12 One parent was surveyed in the base year of NELS (Curtin et al., 2002). In our sample, about 81.17% of parents who responded were the students’ mothers. Approximately 14.86% of parents were the students’ fathers. The parent who responded was also asked to provide information about his or her spouse or partner.13 In the text, we may simply write “an associate’s degree” or “a bachelor’s degree,” but in all instances we mean an associate’s degree or higher, or a bachelor’s degree or higher.14 A response of “I don’t know” was coded as zero. 15 The correlation between students’ grades over the three time points is approximately 0.5.16 The correlation between students’ educational expectations over the three time points is approximately 0.3.17 Since students who graduated on time finished high school in 1992, an associate’s degree is the highest postsecondary degree they could have received by 1994.

57

Ref. Category = White Females

18 Mitzi Davis et al. (2004) came to similar conclusions in their study of Black students at a predominantly White university.

58

Fig. 4. Bachelor’s Degree Attainment

Ref. Category = Black Males

59

NOTES

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